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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Past GT essay - Nowadays, more and more building have been rebuilt or redesigned into a new modern form. What are the advantages and disadvantages of it?

Modernization is the process by which cities are being transformed under the impact of the scientific and technological revolution. That is why most of the buildings are being modernized. As everything has its pros and cons, similarly modernization also has its good and bad points which I shall discuss in this essay.

On the one hand, modernization of cities is very beneficial to meet the needs of the growing population. Sky-scrapers are part of modern cities and they are needed today as land is becoming scarce. These modern buildings reduce the need of deforestation which is a big cause of concern today. Moreover, some old buildings are very old and need demolition. Everything has a life and if these are not demolished or renovated, these may crumble anytime and cause threat to life.

Secondly, modern materials are more practical. Now we use concrete and steel instead of stone, timber or brick. Because of these things buildings can be built comparatively quickly using prefabricated materials. They do not use local materials, such as stone, timber or brick, which used to give character to those buildings. Finally, changes are taking place in climate and energy sources are depleting fast. So we need energy efficient houses. Modern buildings use double glass front walls and POP( Plaster of Paris) ceilings which lessen the energy requirements.

On the other hand, in the process of modernizing, most of the city administrators just copy the architecture of other cities from the developed world and this has resulted in cloning of cities. Very naturally, to rebuild any city with modernization while maintaining its historical and cultural uniqueness is a difficult task that demands know-how in many areas. Copying is relatively simple and fast. Most of the cities now look similar and this has led to a loss of architectural diversity. Tourism is also affected by the loss of historical buildings.

To sum up, I pen down saying that, rebuilding and revamping old buildings has its pros and cons but definitely the merits outweigh the demerits.